Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Tradescantia andersoniana cultivar Satin Doll.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Tradescantia plant, botanically known as Tradescantia andersoniana, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Satin Dollxe2x80x99.
The new Tradescantia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Churt, United Kingdom. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new compact and fast-growing Tradescantia cultivars.
The new Tradescantia originated from a pollination made by the Inventor in 1996 of two unidentified Tradescantia andersoniana selections, not patented. The new Tradescantia was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Churt, United Kingdom in 1998 from the resultant progeny of the pollination. The new Tradescantia was selected on the basis of its compact plant habit, rapid growth rate and purple violet-colored flowers.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by divisions taken at Churt, United Kingdom since 1998, has shown that the unique features of this new Tradescantia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Satin Doll have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Satin Dollxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Satin Dollxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Tradescantia cultivar:
1. Upright and compact plant habit.
2. Rapid growth rate.
3. Freely and uniform flowering habit.
4. Purple violet-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Tradescantia are most similar to plants of the parent selections. Plants of the new Tradescantia differ from plants of the parent selections and other Tradescantia cultivars known to the Inventor in leaf color, plant height and flower color.